MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Middlebury College volleyball team bounced back from an opening set loss and early hole in the fifth to down Bowdoin 3-2 on Friday evening.

The Panthers move one step closer to a .500 average (6-7, 2-3 NESCAC) after collecting wins in the second, third, and fifth sets. Bowdoin (12-5, 3-3 NESCAC) forced a fifth and final set after a commanding 25-15 win to extend the match.  Middlebury earned the win in a back-and-forth five sets by the score of 22-25, 25-14, 26-24, 15-25, 15-13.

Becca Raffel led the way for Middlebury with 14 kills, followed closely by Olivia Kolodka who tallied 12 kills in addition to three aces.  Lizzy Reed had a game-high 24 digs for the Panthers, accounting for nearly half of her team's total.

Christy Jewett paced Bowdoin's offense with 22 kills and the defense with a team leading 18 digs. Michelle Albright and Erika Sklaver each tallied double-digit kill totals, collecting 11 and 10 respectively. Quincy Leech led her team with 31 assists against the Panthers as well as a pair of service aces.